Network of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (NEED)

Rural and semi-rural youth in northern India’s ‘Hindi Belt’ face some of the worst indicators in terms of human development of the entire country. NEED’s approach to addressing poverty in this region emphasizes self-help; after organizing community members into self-help groups, NEED provides basic inputs, such as micro-credit or training, with the expectations that women and youth then make further strides on their own.

EMpower’s fourth grant to NEED helps further deepen their work to build economic pathways for rural youth. The grant continues to support recruitment of youth into self-help groups as well as traditional handicraft trainings and health and education interventions at the village level. The grant includes support for new lines of work, including training in nonproduction aspects of income generation (basic numeracy, price setting, negotiation with suppliers and buyers) as well as training in computers specifically for girls.